Student Policies & Administrative Code

The Jackson School District has established uniform procedures relating to the acceptance of work and credit for students entering the Jackson school system. The procedure is as follows:

1. Transfer students new to one of the Jackson high schools, and current students with proof of completion of approved coursework taken outside of our district, will have the courses, grades, and credits from said school infused into their Jackson permanent record. This infusion will be accomplished by the high school counselor subject to approval by the Director of Guidance.

2. Credits and grades earned and offered for input into the academic history must be from the previous school’s official transcript. 

3. The counselor will record credits for courses when the previous school’s official transcript indicates achievement of said credit. Course grades will be based upon the grading policy of the school that awarded the credit, however the credit for each course will be translated from the previous system into the Jackson system. For example: If the previous school awarded 1.00 credits for passing a “full year” course, we will convert 1.00 credit to 5.00 credits.

4. The Jackson school district calculates GPA and establishes class ranking for each student on the high school level following the completion of 9th grade. For the purposes of this ranking, transfer grades that were weighted by the previous school are recalculated using the Jackson Board of Education weighing scale. Students must complete no less than 5 semesters in the Jackson Public Schools to be considered for Valedictorian (1st in class rank at the end of 8 semesters) or Salutatorian (2nd in class rank at the end of 8 semesters). 

5. High school level courses, taken prior to grade 9, may be used to meet prerequisites or advancement in a particular subject area. However, because graduation credit requirements may only be met with courses taken in grades 9-12, these courses are not included in GPA or credits earned, nor are they listed on the high school transcript.

The chief school administrator or the administrator’s designee of any local school district that enrolls a new student shall request, in writing, the student’s records from the school district of last attendance within two weeks from the date the student enrolls in the new school district. The school district of last attendance shall provide all information in the student’s record related to disciplinary actions taken against the student by the district and note the receiving district if it has obtained any information pursuant to section 1 of P.L. 1982, c.79. 

Upon graduation or permanent departure of a student from the school, district information in the student records , other than that described below will be disposed: The New Jersey public school district of last enrollment, graduation, or permanent departure of the student shall keep for 100 years mandated records of the student's name, date of birth, name of parents, gender, citizenship, address, telephone number, health history and immunization, standardized assessment, grades, attendance, classes attended, grade level completed, year completed, and years of attendance. 

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, an education bill, has amended laws regarding legislation that provides funding for the Nation’s armed forces. The two federal laws require local educational agencies receiving assistance under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide military recruiters, upon request, with three directory information categories – names, addresses, and telephone listings – unless parents have advised the local school district in writing that they do not want their student’s information disclosed. If you do not want Jackson Township School District to disclose directory information from your child’s education records, you must notify the District following the established procedures. 

A student who has nine (9) absences during a semester or eighteen (18) for a full year class does not meet the minimum instructional requirements. Those students will be denied credit for all courses taken and passed that semester as well as be labeled as ‘chronically absent’ by the State of New Jersey. This will be denoted with a “WC” on the report card and transcript. See the full information under the “Student Attendance” section of the Student Handbook. A “WC” is calculated into the GPA.